Going to renew with principal got them to knock a little off the offer that came

23 years old
282 euro
sv650s 2003
on full A2 license
2 years no claims bonus
third party fire and theft

I asked could I add a gsxr 750 mid policy (getting the A license in september) and she said they wouldn't insure me on that until I was 25. Sound of her to go and check and let me know now instead of when I try to add it. She said to try MCE if I wanted to insure something along those lines of the gsxr.

Again, cage is up a few days before the bike, last year was 600, this year is 1800, fuck that! Only did 2,500 km on the car last year and about 24,000 on the bikes. Makes zero sense.

Boom! Principal 220 again for the Fazer! Extra 50 for helmet, gear and personal injury/loss of sight. New lid was 500 so why not, not pulling the trigger on it yet, gotta wait til payday
AXA were bonkers again, wanted about 650. Didn't bother with Nash, Liberty or MCE this year, they were nowhere near the races last 2 years, and I'm happy out with Principal.

On a side note cage is cheaper this year than last year for the first time in about 10 years... Really hate having them both due the same week, but this year ain't so bad.

I had to fight hard to keep the price down to the same as last
year. Principal couldn't do better than €261 for the same level
of cover. I didn't bother calling Axa this year. Liberty don't
do multi-bike and MCE still don't have a proper phone number....

That's a tricky combination. Old enough to ride a big bike,
but not enough experience to get a decent quote for
insurance.

Trying to put first bike on the road (cage since 17, no claims, not that it helps from the insurer's perspective).

Claim-free history is always good. Although I started with zero years
as a born-again in 2012, CN gave me 10% off because I had a
long history of no claims for other classes of vehicle.

Liberty appear to quote me 864 regardless of the bike I put into the online yoke, anyone know would I get it lower by calling them?

As JP mentioned, Liberty will often give a very substantial discount
if you have a recent riding assessment.

And while I'm here... restricting the likes of a Bandit 600 for A2 to then use it for the A progressive and beyond, is that me being stupid or is it a possibility?

It certainly is a possibility. If you can get insured on a restricted Bandit 600 or 650,
you will have a much easier upgrade to category A in a couple of years.

If you buy a Bandit that was restricted by the usual method of replacing
the plastic carb tops, ask the seller for the original unrestricted tops.
This will allow you to remove the restriction at little or no cost
when you want to upgrade to A.